My First Adventure Through Time and Space
by JustWearAFez
Summary: It was a normal life, if you call going to the museum everyday and admiring van Gogh's work tirelessly normal. What happens when I notice that a strange, bow-tie wearing man has been watching me? Read and find out! Review, too! :D
1. Chapter 1

My First Adventure Through Time and Space

It wasn't a particularly glorious morning. In fact, it was downright miserable. The perpetual overcast sky of London had made an appearance yet again, and the sun was no where to be seen. The doors of The National Gallery reflected only myself as I dashed through the drizzling rain to get inside. As soon as I entered, the brilliant colors of the paintings that lined the walls welcomed me with open arms. After I had paid the entrance fee, I quickly headed to the entire room devoted to Vincent van Gogh, my all-time favorite painter. As I had all other days of my visitation, I slowly relished every painstaking stroke and carefully chosen color in every single painting. As I admired van Gogh's painting of a church, I noticed a reflection in the frame. Startled, I realized that a man had been standing behind me the entire time!

I quickly turned and took a step away, taking in the ridiculous sight before my eyes. The man was wearing a bow-tie and a tweed jacket. (Had he not heard that that look was so 30 years ago?) He was tall and gangly, with a big chin that could poke an eye out. But other than that, he wasn't bad, cute even, and on his face was the biggest smile I had ever seen, stretching from ear to ear.

He interrupted my intense gaze, saying: "Hello, I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

I answered tentatively, as my mother had taught me to not talk to strangers. "M-my name? Oh, yes. Abbie. My name is Abbie. And you're a doctor? Of what?" I tried hard to keep a smile on my face while surveying the room for security guards.

"Oh, I'm a doctor of many things, mainly medicine and cheese making. But my friends call me the Doctor."

"That's nice," I replied, turning back to the painting, and trying to get myself back into focus. Several minutes later, I realized that he was _still_ there. I couldn't believe it! Couldn't this guy take a hint? I covertly began to step away, mourning the loss of time to admire the painting. Suddenly, he moved to intercept me.

"I couldn't help but notice that you really like van Gogh. I mean, you've visited everyday for a month, paid the sumptuous fee, and, out of the entire museum, have only visited this room."

I didn't know what to think... had he been following me? Since the first visit I had made, almost a month ago? No, that would be too strange, but giving him a second glance, I realized that bow-tie, gargantuan smile, and refusal to give me a name practically screamed that _nothing_ was too strange for him. It took me at least another minute to reply, yet his smile never faltered. I felt my guard beginning to lift, and I began to wonder if he only wanted a friend, or at least a good conversation.

"Yeah, he's my favorite. I love the impressionism, and how he was able to turn his obvious distress into such amazing beauty. And the way he used textures in his paintings... I can only hope to someday be that good. Well, I can't even hope to be that good. I truly believe that he is the greatest painter of all time. Of course, not everyone agrees..."

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree!" he replied eagerly. "What would you say if I told you that I could take you to meet him?"

Then I _knew_ that he was a nut job. Didn't he know that Vincent van Gogh had died over 100 years before? Who did he think he was kidding? But I appeased his needy look and told him that I would jump for joy and probably take him up on his offer.

"Right then!" he cried, grabbing my hand a pulling me toward the exit. I don't know what came over me. A wave of craziness and courage, of absolute foolishness... I didn't struggle. Something was telling me that everything would be okay, and I began to find myself trusting him. So what if he wore a bow-tie? Bow-ties could be cool. Maybe he liked to smile, and his name really _was _the Doctor. Who cared if he had been watching me for a month? Almost as soon as we had slammed through the exit doors, we came to a big, blue Police Box from the 1960s. He pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and waltzed right in. He shouted something like "Come on in!", and the echo was all wrong for the size of the box. I slowly pushed the door open, took a step inside, and immediately stopped cold.

"It's... it's..." I stammered.

"Ah yes, my favorite part! Bigger on the inside! Haha! It's a TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Time and relative dimension in space. It can travel anywhere in space and time, hence the name. Sorry for stealing your moment, but the time window is closing, and if we want to meet van Gogh before his sadly premature funeral, we'll have to leave now." He began to dance around the large room, pressing blinking buttons, pulling long levers, and quietly humming "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles. A strange noise filled the room, almost like brakes squealing mixed with old 40s sound effects. Seconds after it began, the sound stopped and the Doctor bounded towards me.

"Right. So, out there, right now, is van Gogh's cottage. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself." And then the strange man reached out and opened the door.

Up to that point, I hadn't believed him, but they say that seeing is believing, and what I saw definitely made me believe. Not only did I recognize the cottage from one of the paintings that I had seen day after say for the past month, but a man with fiery red hair, almost exactly matching the self-portrait in the gallery, stood just outside the door, no doubt drawn out by the strange sound of the time machine. _Time machine! _

"Doctor!" van Gogh shouted, striding with arms outstretched toward the Doctor, who welcomed him gladly, and then directed the attention toward me.

"This, my dear friend, is Abbie. She's a massive admirer." Van Gogh immediately turned toward me, a surprised look on his face.

"Hi," I said nerdily, "You're awesome. Big fan. High five!" At his look of confusion, I slowly lowered my hand. I'd forgotten that the high-five wasn't going to be invented for a few years. I glanced, embarrassed, at the Doctor. Just as our eyes met, I could see the last tendrils of a memory fading from his eyes, one that he seemed to be fighting to not remember. My thoughts were interrupted by van Gogh as he carried our conversation out of the awkward pause.

"Surely you cannot be a fan of mine! None of my paintings are very good, at least according to some of my kind neighbors," van Gogh stated ironically.

"Oh but she is!" the Doctor interjected. "And I hate to break up this introduction, but we only have about five minutes before we have to be going again. Time windows, you know. Picture a bus window speeding by a single point on the horizon. Well, it's nothing like that..." He continued to ramble as he walked back to the TARDIS.

"Well," I said, "it was nice to meet you, even for a few moments." I reached out and shook van Gogh's hand.

"Yes," he answered, "very nice."

And then I turned and walked away. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. I had met my hero, my inspiration, my teacher. Years of admiration, and only moments of joy. Yet, I realized, that was more than many of my colleagues had ever had. A few minutes with Vincent van Gogh. The painter. The genius. What would I tell my friends? I had traveled in time and space! I had actually _met_ van Gogh! They would never believe me. And I realized that they might never get the chance. I opened the deep blue door and peered inside. The Doctor was watching the door, waiting for me. He raised his eyebrows, and I took that as my cue.

"Where to next, you wonderful Doctor you?"

With a yell of pleasure, he resumed his dance, plunging the TARDIS back into the web of time, whirling us toward our next adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

_In Which the Alien-ness is Revealed_

After taking me to meet van Gogh, the Doctor whisked me away to watch the building of the Great Sphinx in Egypt. It was really satisfying to finally know that it was the Doctor who had 'accidentally' knocked the nose off when he lost control of the TARDIS while trying to land. I still hadn't let him hear the end of that one. After the one-sided laughter at the predicament had subsided, the Doctor showed me down an impossibly long hallway to my room in the TARDIS.

"This is where you'll be staying," he said, "I hope you'll be comfortable. My room is just down the hall if you ever need anything and it's really important. Otherwise, the TARDIS is very good at providing for your needs. I'll leave you alone to do... stuff. Feel free to explore and otherwise muck about, but do be careful. Last week I lost the spider I had been keeping as a pet... Quite a poisonous one, too, I'm afraid," he chuckled and winked as he closed the door behind him. A spider? In space? In the TARDIS?! He had to be kidding, but then again, it _was_ the Doctor.

I spun around, surveying my room. There was a huge bed, smack dab in the center of the room, just waiting to be jumped on. To the right of the bed, I noticed a small night stand, with a lamp that looked as if it had been through some pretty tough times. On the opposite wall, I saw a door, and, thinking it must be the closet, I opened it. No sooner had the door been opened, than a pile of clothes collapsed around me. I struggled to maintain my balance, but to no avail, and I fell on the floor with a resounding thud.

Deciding to just lie there a minute, I closed my eyes and thought about my predicament. Not only about the pile of clothes I was trapped under at the moment, but at the strange set of circumstances that had brought me there. I had lived a normal life, never so much as smiling at a stranger, let alone running away with one. What had I been thinking? Had I really been so starved for excitement that I would leave everyone and everything that I loved behind? And what about the Doctor? Why had he chosen to follow _me_? I was nothing special, only an art student in love with the work of van Gogh. The highest grade I had ever gotten was an B+, and the only special award I had ever gotten was from my best friend as a joke. I didn't see what had intrigued the Doctor so much about me. I was of an average height, weight, and stature. I had mousy brown hair, and mostly wore boring colors. I struggled to remember anything that I may have ever done that would have been special enough to be given this great opportunity. Superficially, the only thing that I could think of that was even remotely special about me was that my eyes were a greenish blue that changed with the weather, and I highly doubted that he had noticed that before he had spoken a solitary syllable to me.

I let out a resigned sigh, and pushed through the pile of clothes to get to my feet. After stuffing the assortment of shirts and pants all back into the closet, I decided to go exploring. I discovered that the TARDIS was _much _biggeron the inside than I had initially surmised. I was lucky enough to encounter a full size ice-skating rink, not one, but two basketball gymnasiums, and the largest library that I had ever seen. There were books on every subject known to man, probably in every language, too. Thousands upon thousands of books, all without the least bit of dust, as if every single one had been lovingly read and dusted hundreds of times in the recent past. I also noticed that a few were missing crucial last pages, which made me more than a little curious. Nevertheless, a small smile crossed my lips as I pictured a man with a bow tie, twirling around the large room, picking up his beloved books one by one, running a hand over them, perhaps reading a page or two, before putting them back down again. Turning as this picture ran around my mind, I was startled to find the Doctor leaning behind me against one of the numerous shelves, a bemused look on his face as he watched me admire the amazing library.

"I see you've found one of my favorite places in the universe. I've read every single one of these books more times than there are planets in the galaxy of Hexatemptine. Well, actually, thinking about it, more times than that, Hexatemptine only has 27 solar-systems, each with only 9 or 10 planets, it's pretty small... I've definitely read these books more than that in my 1478 years."

Hexatemptine? 1478 years old? I wasn't born yesterday! Who did he think he was fooling? But I found myself actually believing him. It was the same blind faith that had overwhelmed me at the museum. I didn't know what I was thinking. I didn't want to show this man that I believed in him so much so soon, so I decided to just play dumb and coyly nodded.

"Oh, yes, definitely. Definitely more than that. In 1478 years? Yeah, totally."

"It's true! You didn't actually think I could know so much and be any younger, did you?"

"Oh, come on, Doctor! Do you really think that I believe you? 15 lifetimes is a bit much."

A look of understanding crossed his features. "You really haven't figured it out yet, have you? I will say that I'm a little surprised, I thought you were better than this! The TARDIS, time travel, space travel... being really, really old... Don't you get it? I'm alien."

"Space travel? Who said anything about space travel? And alien? I don't believe you."

"Oh, Abbie... Abbigail. I suppose you'll need more proof, eh? Right... follow me."

He spun and walked swiftly out of the room. I quickly followed, but not before letting out an exasperated sigh. He led me down long corridors, all lined with photos of the Doctor and other people that I didn't recognize, until we reached the control room.

"Name a planet, any planet. I can take you there. I can take you to any time period on that said planet. I can take you anywhere in all of space in time, just tell me where," he challenged.

"I suppose I'd like to see... where you're from."

He gave me a look of pain. "Anywhere but there. I can't... I can never go back there. Please, anywhere but there."

"At least tell me about it, Doctor," I pleaded, wanting to know everything.

"I can't," came the slow reply.

The pain in his voice was enough for me. I waited a few moments, searching his eyes for answers, before responding. "I believe you. You don't have to prove anything to me. I believed you back in the library, I just didn't want to admit it. I'm sorry."

He looked at me for a good long while. I waited patiently for his response.

"Okay... Okay. But I'm still taking you somewhere. I've made up my mind, and there it will stay. How about Raxacoricofallapatorius? Or Clom?"

"Wherever you want, Doctor. Wherever you want. Just make it a good one."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hurry up, Doctor!" I called as I struggled to get the TARDIS key to turn in the lock, "They're gaining on you!" I felt the key suddenly turn and stumbled through the doors into the TARDIS control room.

"Whoooooooa!" I heard the Doctor yell as he approached the TARDIS. "Abbigail! Open the doors! I'm coming in!"

I jumped as I realized that the doors had closed behind me and rushed to get them open, the Doctor climbing in just as a large man wearing an equally large sombrero came hurtling around the corner. I glanced down at the Doctor's hands as I slammed the doors shut, and realized that he was carrying a box filled to the brim with fezzes.

"I thought you ditched those a long time ago!" I exclaimed.

"No, I didn't. Why would you even think that? Never ditch the fezzes! Fezzes are cool."

I rolled my eyes at his insanity. "But they almost caught you. And they would have killed you."

"Ah, yes. The good people of the planet of hats can get a little touchy about their hats... But it was all in good fun! They couldn't have really killed me, don't you remember?" he winked. I kept forgetting the fact that he was a Timelord and could regenerate when he was about to die, which, incidentally, was one of the_ only_ things that I could get him to reveal. That, and that he was the last Timelord in the entire universe. "Anyhow," he continued, "I needed a new fez. My last one was getting a bit worn. And now I have enough to last me a few more centuries! How cool is that?" I had to roll my eyes. To this man, if I could even call him that anymore, everything was cool.

"Again with the eyes! I'd think they were following a quantum exterior loop if I didn't know any better. Can we count that as eye roll number 189? I should be getting a free hug by now!" the Doctor complained.

"Alright, alright!" I cried as I threw my arms around him familiarly. I felt his arms slowly come around me and I realized that this was the first time that we had ever hugged. A little ashamed of my forwardness, I began to pull away, but the Doctor tightened his grip and prevented me from ending the embrace.

"Ahhh, Abbie. It's been so long since I've had a right and proper hug. In fact, I..." he trailed off and deciding to leave it be, I buried my head in his tweed jacket.

We stood there for several minutes, neither one of us willing to break the quiet peace of the hug. It wasn't until the TARDIS began to shake that we hurriedly separated.

"Doctor! What's going on?" I shouted as I watched him run around the console, trying to find an answer to my question.

"I haven't the slightest idea. Well, I have a bit. The TARDIS has entered the time vortex all on her own, which means that we were either in immediate danger or something is messing with her engines. And seeing as the people of the planet of hats wouldn't be able to get violent enough to even put a scratch on the TARDIS, I'm thinking that I'll go with the second option." He punched a few more buttons in a desperate attempt to stop the interference, but to no avail. "Whatever is causing this to happen is extremely powerful. I haven't seen this much power since the one time the TARDIS was taken over by a hostile asteroid, and that was after it had drained the TARDIS out of itself. Clearly the TARDIS is still here with us," he said, pointing to the lights, "so that can't possibly be an explanation."

"But what are we going to do? We can't just let whatever is doing this capture us!"

"Well why not? Seems like the perfect way to figure out what's going on." My startled look did nothing to faze him, and a few seconds later, the TARDIS landed. "Right then," the Doctor said as he stepped toward the doors, "Geronimo!"

I followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and into a dim light. I glanced at the Doctor for an explanation, but his face had frozen in a look of almost horror. He spun around, surveying the room we had entered, but I couldn't tell how he could gain any knowledge from it. The lighting was dull, and the only structure in the room was obscured by the TARDIS. I watched as the Doctor pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch.

"How is knowing the time supposed to help us at all, Doctor?" I asked, eager to break the silence.

"Oh, it's not the time I'm worried about." he said, as he held out his wrist to me. I saw five concise tally marks drawn on his skin. "I'm more worried about the creature- or creature- that we've been seeing."

"But we haven't..." I began to stammer, but before I could finish my sentence, my eyes fixed upon a gruesome figure in the corner.

"D-d-doctor... What is that?" My eyes had caught on a huge, white, suit-wearing alien. The alien began to make a strange clicking sound as it tilted its head and met my gaze.

"That, my dear Abbigail, is one of the Silence," he answered after he had turned. "Look away, and you'll forget they are even there. They've been influencing human history since the wheel and first fire."

"What is it doing _here _then? We're not even on Earth!" I exclaimed loudly, which seems to disturb the creature to some degree.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that... I've seen one of these consoles before, in an upstairs apartment that wasn't really even there. Perception filters are very tricky things... And then there was that time when I visited 1969. I saw one of these ships then, too. But why here? Why now? The Silence believe that I'm dead..."

"Could we have possibly been abducted at an earlier point in the, uh," I paused while trying to remember what he had called them, "_Silence's_ time line? Maybe they don't know that you're dead yet."

"Oh, Abbie, you are absolutely brilliant!" the Doctor exploded. "That would also explain the museum incident. AND the large bolts of electricity that the Silent is beginning to form... RUN!" The Doctor dashed away, just as a humongous bolt of electricity flashed at the place that he had previously been standing. But I couldn't take my eyes off the creature. What would I do if I couldn't remember what I was running from? What good would it do at all?

An energy bolt flashed too close for comfort and woke me from my panicked stupor. Keeping my eyes on the creature, I ducked and scooted along the side of the TARDIS to the protected corner that the Doctor was crouching in. We had a clear visual of the Silent from our protected alcove.

Images of van Gogh's paintings flashed through my mind. I could see myself running through the halls of the museum, trying to follow a bow tie wearing... It hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Doctor," I whispered, "that day in the museum, the day you took me to meet van Gogh... That wasn't the first time we had met was it?"

He studied me for a long time before replying. "No, Abbie, it wasn't."

"And you and I, we were... fighting... these things. For an entire month. An entire month just wiped from my memory. How did that happen, Doctor? How?"

"The Silence mess with your memory. That much exposure to them, in that period of time, without prior knowledge... That must have done wonders for your mind."

"But I remember now. How am I remembering?"

"Look at me, Abbie." I glanced at him and immediately forgot what we had been discussing before.

"Doctor, why are we even hiding over here? The room is completely empty." The look in the Doctor's eyes was one filled with sadness.

"I had another companion who couldn't remember any time with the Silence, either. They held her captive and she only thought she'd been there for a few hours. Oh, but it was much longer than a few hours."

"What are you even-" I stuttered to a stop as I turned around and caught sight of the creature again. Memory of the past few minutes, as well as that long-lost month, sprang back into my head. "How... how does that even work, Doctor?"

"They seem to- for lack of a better word- edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. Have you ever had a strong feeling to do something and not had the explanation as to why you felt that way? They've been using this power for centuries to influence human history. Most people can't remember the first time they see a Silence; every time is a new experience to them. That's where you're special, Abbie. You remember. And I only bring the most special people with me.

"There was a month. In that museum. You helped me fight these creatures, keeping them from destroying some of the most important human legacies, day by day. And we did it. It took a while, but we did it. But you didn't remember, and I had been afraid that you wouldn't. There were times, right in the middle of it, where I could see you stop short, like you had forgotten everything, but then you'd turn right back around and keep fighting. That day, when I took you with me, was the first day that I approached you after the ordeal. You once mentioned something about not knowing why you were coming with me. It was your memories, Abbie. You remembered. Somewhere, deep in your heart, you remembered me, and came."

I kept my gaze firmly fixed on the creature. "What happens when I look away? Am I just going to forget all over again?"

"Not if you don't want to," the Doctor answered. "You've already proven that your mind is exceptionally brilliant. I've always said that if something can be remembered, it can come back. Meaning, if you can remember that you have something to remember, you will be able to remember. I have faith in you. Look at me." I braced myself to forget and turned to look at the Doctor.

No sooner had I turned than my mind went blank. There was something nagging at the back of my mind, but I couldn't quite place what it was. Suddenly, a wonderful warmth began to fill my head: I remembered, just like the Doctor had said. A small smile crossed my face as I smiled at him and said, "Don't we have some aliens to defeat right now?"

"I knew you could do it!" he shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Now then, shall we find out what these aliens want with us?" He turned, and sprinted out into the open. I ran after him and looked defiantly into the face, if you could call it that, of the Silent. In my mind, it was already defeated, but the battle had only just begun.


	4. Chapter 4

"So!" the Doctor said, stating his presence. "You've brought us here, you've caught us here, so why do you want us here? If it's to kill me, I can assure you that it's not going to happen today."

The creature opened its hideous mouth and began to screech out words. "Doctor," it hissed, "we have brought you here, because we needed something. Something that we knew that we could not obtain without your help."

"Doctor, what is it talking about?" I questioned. "The TARDIS?"

"I don't know. I've never pretended to understand the minds of monsters such as the Silence. Although I once beat the great Einstein at a game of chess."

"What does that have to do with any of this, Doctor?"

"None whatsoever, just trying to lighten the mood!" he smiled.

"Doctor..." the creature slurred, effectively freezing the Doctor's smile, "you have been captured with no means of escape. Unless you give us what we seek."

"Yes, yes, you keep telling me that, but I've told people before. I've told them and I keep telling them: there is one thing that you never, ever, under any circumstances put in a trap. Me." With that he opened the TARDIS doors and hopped inside. "Hurry up, Abbie, we haven't got all day!" he shouted through the doors. Careful to keep my eyes on the Silent, I stepped inside.

"You don't think that we'll actually be able to use the TARDIS to escape, do you?" I asked the Doctor, still amazed that I could remember that the Silent was outside.

"Of course not, Abbie! The engines are under full lock down. If we tried to enter the vortex now, we wouldn't make it two meters without blowing to smithereens. No, what I'm looking for is my teleport room. There are so many rooms that I just can't quite ever remember exactly..." he trailed off after pulling a ridiculously large map out of his jacket pocket. I resolved to getting one of those for myself after the whole ordeal was over. "Ah! Here we are! Teleport... If we can hurry to that room I may be able to lock on to the nearest control room and release the TARDIS from the Silence's grasp." With that, he dashed off into the nearest hallway.

I followed as fast as I could. We passed rooms with colored doors, labels in different languages, and bubbles floating out between the door and the floor. We even passed what looked to be an entrance to a zoo, but it was hard to tell with the swift pace we were keeping. When the Doctor finally stopped, it was in front of a curtained off room. Pulling it aside, he shuffled quickly into the room. He exited just as swiftly, but this time bearing two wristbands.

"Vortex manipulators. I can't guarantee a teleport where we're going, along with the fact that we don't want to blow up, so we're going to have to travel the old-fashioned way." If this was the old-fashioned way, I'd love to see how he reacted to bikes. "Now, you'll have to go first. I'll be right behind you. As soon as you appear, find somewhere to hide until I arrive. Do _not _be seen. This has to be stealthy. Because stealth is cool. Well, that and I'm fairly certain that you don't want to die a painful death at the hands of the Silence." What was he talking about? Before I could ask just how painful this death would be, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the device around my wrist.

Suddenly, I found myself in completely different surroundings and slightly sick. Wary of what the Doctor had told me about hiding, I quickly ducked behind the nearest door. As I waited for the Doctor, I absorbed the details of the room about me. As dimly lit as the last room I had seen that had belonged to the Silence, this room contained a large pillar that rose from floor to ceiling, and was covered with buttons, levers, wheels, speakers, and screens. I spotted an image of the TARDIS on one of the screens, and I was immediately astonished by what I saw: the Silent was slowly, but surely, cutting a hole in the TARDIS doors.

Without warning, the Doctor appeared beside me. "Before you say anything, yes I know. The Silent is somehow getting through the TARDIS defenses," he whispered. His eyes locked onto the screen, and in a baby voice, he continued: "Oh what have they done to you my poor, little thing?" I would have guffawed with laughter at the ridiculousness of it all if the immediate danger had not been so apparent.

The Doctor surveyed the room, looking for more of the creatures. Seeing none, he waltzed right out into the open and began pushing buttons. "Abbie," he whispered sharply, "come hold this lever down." I scrambled to my feet and grabbed the lever that he was pointing at. "Now, don't move. If you let go of that lever, the TARDIS will begin to disappear and we'll be stuck here forever."

I was left to ponder that dismal fate until the Doctor gasped and hit his forehead. "I forgot my pneumatic wrenchy thing. I'll be right back!" he assured me before disappearing yet again.

I began to watch the Silent on the screen continue to blast a hole through the TARDIS doors. Hadn't the Doctor himself told me that that just wasn't possible? That there was almost nothing in the world that could get through a working TARDIS's defenses? But then, that was it, wasn't it? The TARDIS _wasn't _working, so of course it was easier for a powerful creature, such as a Silent, to force its way into the control room. Continuing to hold down the lever, I watched as the Silent slowly made its way through the door.

"Abbigail!" I heard the Doctor shout through one of the countless speakers, "I know that you can hear me! I need you to let go of the lever. It's the only way to repair the TARDIS and keep it out of the Silent's control!"

This sudden dilemma seemed to cut me to the core. If the Doctor was to be believed, releasing the lever would immediately send the TARDIS into the vortex, leaving me behind. I had faith that the Doctor would come back to me if he could, but what if he couldn't? What if the Silence shut the TARDIS out and I was trapped with them forever?

"Abbie," I heard the Doctor say through the speakers, "I know that you're scared. I know that you have doubts. But this is where you have to trust me. I promise that I will find a way to get back to you. I fully intend to keep that promise, and I've never broken a promise that I intended to keep."

The double standard wasn't lost on me. "But what about the promises that you never intended to keep? Did you leave people behind then?"

The silence stretched for several seconds. Finally the Doctor whispered: "I need you to trust me. You will see me again. I cross my hearts and hope to die. I triple pinky swear. I. Will. Be. Back. For. You. I promise. But you need to hurry."

It took all my power to let go of the lever and let it flip up. I watched as the TARDIS disappeared, and waited for a long minute to pass by to see if the TARDIS would reappear. It didn't.

I could sense something standing behind me and slowly turned to face my captor.

"Abbigail King, you have been captured by the Silence. You will be our prisoner," the creature hissed.

I was startled that it knew my entire name. "How do you know about me?" I inquired, "Where are you taking me?"

"No questions," the creature snapped, if it could be called that. It led me down a long hallway to a door with no handle. The creature placed its hand on the door, which opened immediately. "In here please," the Silent said not-so-politely before shoving me into the empty room. The door slid shut behind me, and I was alone with my thoughts.

I tried to stay positive, thinking about the wonderful adventures that the Doctor and I would go on after he rescued me, but doubts began to creep into my mind like storm clouds. The Doctor would never be able to find me. I was going to be trapped here for the rest of my life. I was surrounded by creatures whose appearances evaded even my 'special' memory, as the Doctor had put it. Tears began to stream down my face like the first raindrops in a monsoon. I was good and trapped, and it scared me. I heard a loud crackle and was startled. I sat on the floor of my cell and waited to hear the noise again before assuming that it had only been a figment of my imagination. CRACK! I jumped as I heard the sound again. But then the Doctor's voice invaded my consciousness.

"Members of the Silence!" he roared powerfully, "You have taken something very precious to me. You have trapped her, she is scared and alone, but I will free her. And when I do, if I find that a single hair is out of place, I will hunt every last one of you down, and you will die."

His voice faded away and another loud crash resounded in my ears. This was a side of him that I hadn't seen before. I felt safer, but it was a terrifying safety that I wasn't sure that I wanted.

"Please, Doctor," I whispered to thin air, "Hurry." With that, I curled up into a ball and began my long wait.


End file.
